DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0373
M. M. Ill: THE DOMESTIC QUARTER
335
above, a tributary duct carried off the surface waters of this Court directly
into the main channel of the built drain. Apparently in the latest period of Course of
the Palace, perhaps in order to avoid effluvia from the latrine, the whole ^™rsed
arrangement was revolutionized and the waters of the little Court were
carried off in the opposite direction, through the Hall of the Colonnades.
To effect this alteration the old drain was blocked on this section and
a passage forcibly hewn for the new duct through two massive walls.1
A doorway in the N.E. corner of the Room of the Plaster Couch gave
access by a double turn, analogous to that of its S.E. entrance, to two further
sections of passage way, by which the full circuit of the corridor system of
this Quarter was completed. The first section of these, lit by the East
window of the ' Court of the Distaffs ', passed, immediately on the right, the ' The
entrance of a small chamber which amongst all the rooms other than those of Lair'
basements brought out by the excavation of the Palace site at Knossos was
the most secluded. It was windows-less from its very position, and except for
artificial light must have been quite dark. It formed the centre of the
somewhat labyrinthine system of the surrounding corridors, and was jocosely
referred to durine the excavation as the ' Lair '.
The complete seclusion of this room only dated, however, from this Earlier
Period. Originally there had been a series of door openings on its S. side, Features>
the remains of which were found under the later wall. To this earlier
phase, too, belonged a massive ' kalderim ' pavement of stone slabs, found
underlying the later floor-levels.2 This room was also called the ' Treasury' Deposit of
• Ivories
from the discovery here of part of the ' Deposit of Ivories ' belonging to
what seems to have been the treasury of a shrine. But these precious relics
seem to have been precipitated from the corresponding chamber above/'
Beyond the entrance of the 'Lair' the Corridor, by a bend N., gave Service
access to another private staircase, affording the Service Quarters direct Staircase>
communication with the rooms above. This seems to have been entirely of
woodwork (restored in the Plan), only the stone casing of which is preserved.
At the foot of this staircase a doorway, controlled from within, gave access
from the last section of the Corridor to the Hall of the Colonnades.
Of the marvellous preservation of the upper story the Room of the Upper
Stone Bench, immediately above that of the Plaster Couch, will give a good ^]°°^:
idea (see Fio-. 244). This room derives its name from a stone bench still Stone
. . . ' . . ... Bench'.
.in situ against its back wall, and it has been possible to maintain in
1 See Vol. II.
2 This lay about 8o cm. below the top of the later door-jambs. 3 See Vol. II.
335
above, a tributary duct carried off the surface waters of this Court directly
into the main channel of the built drain. Apparently in the latest period of Course of
the Palace, perhaps in order to avoid effluvia from the latrine, the whole ^™rsed
arrangement was revolutionized and the waters of the little Court were
carried off in the opposite direction, through the Hall of the Colonnades.
To effect this alteration the old drain was blocked on this section and
a passage forcibly hewn for the new duct through two massive walls.1
A doorway in the N.E. corner of the Room of the Plaster Couch gave
access by a double turn, analogous to that of its S.E. entrance, to two further
sections of passage way, by which the full circuit of the corridor system of
this Quarter was completed. The first section of these, lit by the East
window of the ' Court of the Distaffs ', passed, immediately on the right, the ' The
entrance of a small chamber which amongst all the rooms other than those of Lair'
basements brought out by the excavation of the Palace site at Knossos was
the most secluded. It was windows-less from its very position, and except for
artificial light must have been quite dark. It formed the centre of the
somewhat labyrinthine system of the surrounding corridors, and was jocosely
referred to durine the excavation as the ' Lair '.
The complete seclusion of this room only dated, however, from this Earlier
Period. Originally there had been a series of door openings on its S. side, Features>
the remains of which were found under the later wall. To this earlier
phase, too, belonged a massive ' kalderim ' pavement of stone slabs, found
underlying the later floor-levels.2 This room was also called the ' Treasury' Deposit of
• Ivories
from the discovery here of part of the ' Deposit of Ivories ' belonging to
what seems to have been the treasury of a shrine. But these precious relics
seem to have been precipitated from the corresponding chamber above/'
Beyond the entrance of the 'Lair' the Corridor, by a bend N., gave Service
access to another private staircase, affording the Service Quarters direct Staircase>
communication with the rooms above. This seems to have been entirely of
woodwork (restored in the Plan), only the stone casing of which is preserved.
At the foot of this staircase a doorway, controlled from within, gave access
from the last section of the Corridor to the Hall of the Colonnades.
Of the marvellous preservation of the upper story the Room of the Upper
Stone Bench, immediately above that of the Plaster Couch, will give a good ^]°°^:
idea (see Fio-. 244). This room derives its name from a stone bench still Stone
. . . ' . . ... Bench'.
.in situ against its back wall, and it has been possible to maintain in
1 See Vol. II.
2 This lay about 8o cm. below the top of the later door-jambs. 3 See Vol. II.